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Yeah. I had complete loss of smell and taste, which came back about 90% over the next six weeks. It was fine for a month and then it went wonky. Probably 30% of my "scent spectrum" has now been replaced with the same burnt meat smell/taste. Everything from chocolate to feces to hamburgers now has the same core odor.

It really, really sucks.

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Don't lose hope. I got in October, similar effects, and I've been recovering a lot of my smell and taste, veery slowly and in "bursts".

Nowadays I'm almost fully ok, the only smells I haven't recovered are body odor (which I can smell, it's just really different) and feces and trash, which for some reason smell in a very particular sweet way, kinda like rotten meat.

That last one, for some reason, seems to be really common, since several friends that also lost smell have had the same exact change.

Yeah, the first time I recovered my smell feces took the longest to come back. Since I already recovered and didn't catch covid again, I can't help but think my current problem arises from some kind of incorrect healing. Like a nerve pathway is connecting to the wrong thing somehow.

This is probably the first time I read about these side effects. Are you certain it's your perception that has changed (ie. neurological changes), as opposed to the actual smell? I would not be surprised at all if Covid has an impact on the gut flora.

According to a Harvard article I read, it's caused by damage to the sensors in the nose, rather than brain damage. I have the problem myself and it's definitely not changes to the smells themselves.

The effect isn't unique to covid-19 either. I heard from several people when that 2017 flu went around that they had the same issue. One of them was complaining for over a year until smell/taste finally got better/normal again.

(Not trying to downplay covid-19. Just pointing out that it's not an unknown side effect from this type of disease)

Wow, very similar experience here, except the sweetness I smell isn't likable to rotten meet, but rather sort of like aging strawberries/fruit. I smell this semi-sweet fruit-like smell particularly strongly with anything alcoholic, including hand sanitizer. I had covid anosmia for about 6 weeks during December-January '20, but this sweet smelling parosmia has only been around the last 2 months or so. Such a mystery to me.

Yup, now that you mention it, aging strawberries is a nice description. Funny that it's universal.

I wonder if we have special "wiring" for enhancing human-produced smells? Kinda like how the brain is capable of distinguishing human faces by small details that we don't see that well for other species.

I do miss those odors, to be honest...

Interesting! Yes, I believe there's a genetic component here to how covid impacts sense of smell/taste long-term.

What I'm just surprised by is how my smell totally recovered after 6 weeks, but then months later this semi-sweet aging strawberries smell kicked in (with many things, but mainly ethanol-containing products). My covid experience itself thankfully was fairly benign too.

If my olfactory neurons repaired themselves, then what triggered disrepair months later?

To be clear, I've been on the keto diet since January, and that definitely can produce fruity alcohol breath as a natural byproduct, so when I ran this concern with my GP, they said it's very likely not covid, and more likely my diet. But that didn't quite sit well with me, and now that you and others on here mention your experience, I'm more convinced this is some kind of odd post-covid long-term effect. TBD!

My cousin (20s) lost his sense of taste and hasn't recovered it months later. Son (teen) lost his for a week then recovered it. Reports however that he has pernanently lost his sense of thurst. Ymmv.

> Reports however that he has pernanently lost his sense of thurst.

Wow that is weird, hadn’t heard of that one yet, and seems kind of dangerous. Is he taking extra precautions to stay hydrated?

I heard on a cooking podcast (probably this episode of cooking issues[1]) that smell training has helped some people with anosmia. I have no idea if it helps with loss of smell related to covid. Have any of you tried it?

Here's an example (no affiliation, just the ones with the best SEO, I am not a doctor): https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training

[1] https://heritageradionetwork.org/episode/live-datta-lab-feat...

Did getting vaccinated change anything ? I've heard that vaccinations helped people with long COVID.

Hope you recover fully.

Edit: since someone asked for citations, here is a CNN link

https://us.cnn.com/2021/04/03/health/long-haulers-vaccine-we...

I follow the "This week in virology" podcast and they have discussed this extensively as well. Dr Daniel Griffin, cited in the CNN article is a weekly contributor on this podcast, and has mentioned the effect in question multiple times.

Unfortunately not. The change in smell happened a few days before my first shot. That's lucky though, as there's no telling what I'd believe if I'd been fine and then thought the shot ruined my taste.

please stop with comments starting with 'i've heard that' - there is enough misinformation already.

Please. add. citations.

They're literally asking for someone to weigh in with first-hand experience on something they heard but are not sure about. It's a valid question that I would also like to hear about.

Citations are more relevant for when people are making a claim than for when they are investigating a claim.

Unfortunately the vaccine helps only in about 20% of the cases.

Fatigue and rapid heartbeat being cured by a vaccine sounds like psychosomatic long COVID. This is a hot button topic that few professionals will bother examining in a critical fashion.

Loss of sense of smell is not psychosomatic. Unfortunately, viral infections can cause sometimes permanent loss.

My social media manager had the exact same reaction. She says it’s getting better very slowly - she can still only stomach eating rice and bread, though. Everything else makes her throw up immediately.

Who are you that you can't operate social media yourself?

How old are you? Were you completely healthy before?

30. Overweight but no actual medical problems. Not prescribed any medications. Not a drug, cigarette, or alcohol user.

I don't mean be invidious, but being overweight is an actual medical problem, one that's been strongly linked[1][2][3] with susceptibility and severity of the disease.

I can't recommend reading the World Obesity Atlas pdf enough as it provides possible explanations for the disparities in cases and deaths we've seen in different societies.

[1] https://www.worldobesity.org/resources/resource-library/covi...

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excess-weight-and...

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32788355/

Lol at parent comment being downvoted - being overweight is absolutely a medical problem, people need to stop normalising it.

My 21-yo daughter was previously completely healthy and fit, and she has now experienced a year of long covid. Already skinny, she lost 16 pounds because food didn't register as food (messed up smell and taste) and she couldn't choke it down. She had a couple of weeks where she could tolerate almost no foods but almonds and miso soup. So much fatigue last summer that she couldn't even sit up for very long. New and persistent depression, sensitivity to noise. Please don't try to minimize this illness by blaming it on people's existing health conditions.

I'm not blaming. I'm trying to gather data because I'm having a serious problem with trust.

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